Civil War Medicine: Conditions & Treatments in Battlefield Hospitals

Civil War hospitals were often overcrowded, understaffed, and unsanitary, located in repurposed churches and schools. Surgeons lacked anesthesia and sterile technique; amputations were common without pain relief. Mortality was high from infection, disease, and surgical complications.

Common Conditions Treated

• Gunshot wounds
• Amputations
• Fractures
• Burns
• Diarrhea, dysentery
• Pneumonia, typhus, smallpox, measles

The Union developed a field hospital system near front lines for triage, improving survival. Union hospitals were better supplied than Confederate ones. Post-war lessons advanced military and civilian medicine.